As much as he is a stuttering doofus, and therein showcases his political value for the former administration; and to the extent that Clapper has previously stated there was no attempt by the DOJ/FBI to gain a FISA authorized approval for surveillance on any Trump campaign officials: “none that I’m aware of“; …it is always valuable to listen to Clapper because he has a tendency to, well, to let slip stuff that makes the black hats cringe.

Cue the audio visual “slippage.” Inside tonight’s interview by Jake Tapper, former DNI James Clapper now unwittingly refutes his previous assertion of “no Trump FISA warrant“, and simultaneously lets it slip out that the Clinton/Steele dossier was not used in gaining origination authority for FISA-702 surveillance, but rather for an “extension” of a previous application for FISA-702 surveillance. WATCH:

06:48 ..”as I understand it, this was simply an extension of uh, the original, uh, FISA request. Meaning that, or implying, that apparently, there was information that was considered, uh, ‘valuable’, that was being obtained, via the initial FISA request.”

“FISA’s have, uh, finite dates. Uh, in other words they have deadlines; they aren’t indefinite… So when the time was up for the initial FISA report, FISA request, then it was time to get an extension. So on its face, I don’t know that the dossier played, very much, in this at all”…

Well, that’s interesting. I wonder who gave Clapper the “as I understand it” part? Now let’s go back to March 5th 2017 and review what DNI James Clapper said about the Department of Justice getting FISA-702 surveillance authority on Trump campaign officials.

Notice in this March 5th, 2017 interview, the question is specifically about “The FBI” (not other Title III orgs) gaining a FISA Court Order on Trump Tower or Trump Campaign officials. WATCH:

Clapper didn’t know of any FISA-702 surveillance authority in March 2017, but today, January 31st, 2018, “as he understands it”, the Clinton/Steele dossier was used during an FBI FISA702 re-authorization he never knew was happening.

I wonder why Jake Tapper never asked him when he came to this new understanding? Nevermind, rhetorical.

Funny how that happens…

Gotta love obsequious James Clapper

Of course all of this begs the question: Then when did FISA-702 surveillance begin?

If the dossier was used for an extension in September-October 2016, and extensions are in 90-day increments, then FISA surveillance was happening in June-July 2016. Implying there never was a denial of any originating FISA request.

Keeping in mind James Comey testified March 20th, 2017, that the FBI counterintelligence operation began in July 2016, this would align with an October 2016 re-authorization date.

ie. Candidate Donald J Trump was under surveillance from the minute he won the GOP primary.